In many conversations, one or more of the conversation's participants has an objective and attempts to use the conversation to achieve the objective. For example, a participant in a conversation may attempt to persuade other participants to take a particular action or to accept a particular proposition. As just one example, a sales representative may attempt to persuade a potential customer to engage in purchasing behavior (e.g., to schedule a meeting with the sales representative, use a product or service on a trial basis, agree to purchase a product or service, agree to a particular price for a product or service, etc.).
The performance (e.g., effectiveness, persuasiveness, etc.) of a participant in a conversation may be assessed based on the outcome of the conversation (e.g., the extent to which the participant achieves the participant's objective). Business organizations generally measure the performance of a sales representative or sales team based on call volume (the number of sales calls placed), call duration, number of sales, and/or sales revenue.